Meanderings and activities of Steve and Janet and their ever growing family: 16 adults and 26 children

The Energizer Cowboys who kept things humming at the reunion

These kids know how to have fun!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Thanksgiving on the Mesa

Logan the Explorer enjoyed being a mountain goat!

We had a great Thanksgiving with wonderful weather, great visitors, and fun activities. Nathan & Tammy, Rob & Kathryn, and Anthony& Ashley and their families all arrived Wed. night, so we got to do things with them thru Sunday. We had a delicious dinner Thursday, and also invited Brother Larry Dennison to come join us. He was #14 for dinner. He used to go hunting with Steve in the early days, and knows our family pretty well. He's all alone now, and I think he enjoyed being with us. He even stayed and played the games.
Everyone helped with the food prep: Ashley with her signature Corn bread dressing, Tammy with yummy Frog Eye Salad, and Kathryn with delicious white rolls. We had two kinds of turkey which we munched on all weekend. Steve smoked a turkey earlier in the week and we cooked it on Wed. On the last day I made shredded Mexican taco filling with the last of the turkey. I had never fixed left over turkey that way, but it was delicious with some black beans in it and seasoning. It was good both as a burrito and as a taco. It was great not having left-overs, and I appreciated everyone helping to eat up all the things in the fridge before they left.
I hope you all have been writing in your Gratitude Journals, and keep encouraging each other to do so every day. I'm a firm believer that grateful people are happy people. While I was getting desserts ready, and loading the dishwasher, we had everyone, including Bro. Dennison start their gratitude journal. I've written in ours several times since then. I think pretty much everyone wrote that day, and hopefully, have continued. I don't know if Steve has added any more, however. I hope he sees this and remembers it's a daily habit!

We also played a "hot potato" gratitude game with our stuffed fabric cornicopia veggies and fruits. One of the kids started it by identifying the first letter of the fruit, and said something they were thankful for that started with that lettr, then he tossed it to another person, and it went round and round, until we had saturated the letter with all the blessings we could think of. Once we got through playing, we went back to the table for dessert.
Later we played several whole group games: The West Wind Blows, Name bopper, Categories, and Chinese writing. Who knew that Anthony could speak Chinese! We had a ton of fun, and laughed a lot. It was good for all of us. It was so fun playing games with the grandkids, and seeing their sense of humor coming through, and making jokes along with their parents. We all need more humor in our lives and less harshness.
Coyote calling, of course, was one of the activities of the weekend, as well as target practice with the kids (they weren't the targets -- they were shooting too!).

We went on a hike at Bluff Bench and Recapture Pocket, made a few "Black Friday" trips to Alco! and visited and played table games. We found the can Chris's family hid last Easter with the GPS co-ordinates. It didn't look like anyone had found it yet.

Who are those crazy explorers?

Hiking on the slick rocks above Bluff

The only thing missing was a cook and a kitchen cleanup crew, so I could just goof off too. But my energy has been better lately, so I survived it all. Dad was a huge help running errands, and cooking breakfast.

On Saturday we invited Sister Stubbs' Grandkids, and Charlotta Lacy's kids for the Pinata break. We also played games with them. Some of the older kids didn't get a turn, as it broke before it got to them, but it was still fun. Thanks, Ashley for providing that.

That evening a young man we've been helping with, was baptized, and we both participated in that. He's been coming out to all the YSA activities, and really loves it. We even got him to Institute on Thursday. He came to the YSA branch for the first time today. He has really needed friends his age, and seems really happy to have found a nitche in the gospel.

Anthony and Nathan's families went to church with us, then headed for home after Sac. meeting. Thanks everyone for changing the sheets, and cleaning up so well. We loved having everyone come and all the help you gave. Sometimes I'm so worn out after a big visit, it takes me days to recover, but we did better this time.

Monday we went to the Lowe Family concert in Monticello with Ethan and Kathryn. Rob was headed to Las Vegas for Swat team training. He got back on Friday. So he was gone quite awhile. Ethan was a little sick that night, but seems to have gotten better. The concert was their Branson format, so some people felt it was too long, but I loved it and felt we really got our moneys worth!!

We got snow yesterday, so it really looks like Christmas in Blanding now! We'll we've gotta run--it's break-the-fast at the YSA branch, and we're taking several things for those hungry appetites. Love and kisses, Grandma!

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Visits on the Mesa

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Some of the cute grandkids at the Ririe Reunion

Mattea & Peyton color coordinated

Reunion Pioneers

Gannon is a boy on the go!

Jaxon looking for more rocks

The kids loved throwing rocks into the pond

2005 babies growing up

Hunter, Sam, Mattea, and Hailey will be in 2nd grade this fall

Ryan and his girls

Family stop at the Snake River outlook

Sam's off on another adventure

Michael and Daniel

Looking for a new adventure on the ranch

Logan and Anthony

At the top of Antelope Granary Hill

Milk Can Cowgirl, Hailey

Hinckley gets a sky view from Dad

Hinckley's walking buddy

Hinck loves his Grandpa

Matthew needs agua!

Grandpa's Buddy

So Happy to Have Ryan Lemuel Here

Born June 7, 2012 about 3:30 PM

Welcome to the Family --Lawsyn Margaret

Birthday June 25, 2012

Isabella Felice Brings Happiness

Born May 9, 2012

24th of July Celebrators

Nathan and Tammy's Cowboy Crew

Isabella's first reunion at 7 weeks old!

Chris and Pam's family 2012

Just missing CJ

Quent & Bev's Family Ready to Celebrate the 4th

We had a good visit with the Arizona gang after we got home from the reunion

When Daddy (Quent) was a little boy

Autumn and Theron's family

When Mommy was a little girl

Andrew and Amy's family

Quent and Bev's family

Enthralled by Bubbles

Brig learned new tricks at the reunion

A Mud Bath for Logan

G-r-r-r-r reat Stories by and about Grandkids

Past stories have been transferred to the next edition of Rough Rock Writers....Please send Grandma and Grandpa some more stories. These will be the perfect gifts for the next dozen or so years for any occasion! They don't need to be dusted, have no calories, and bring us a lot of joy each time we read them.

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Note from Peyton's teacher: 2/11/2012

Autumn,I really appreciate your support! Peyton is such a good girl! I saw her praying before the spelling test last week, and I thought it was so sweet! She also was the only one in that class this week that got a 10/10. Way to go, Peyton!!Thanks again for everything,Mrs. Rager7/7/2011

Travis's first real word is officially "ball" and it applies to anything round: watermelons, suction cups, and of course, balls of all shapes and sizes.

1/11/2011

This was on Autumn's FB post today: "I went into Peyton's room to wake her up this morning, before I could even say anything she popped her head out from under the blanket and said, "Actually, I need to finish my dream!"

12/5/2010

The night before traveling north for the family party I had stayed up all the night trying to render a DVD of our Mediterranean trip, but to no avail. When we arrived at Autumn's I was telling her what happened, and how tired I was, and I'm sure I looked it as well.

I'd forgotten little kids have big ears, and in the blessing that day for dinner, Peyton, added to the prayer, . . ."And bless grandma that she will Never, Never, never stay up all night again."

Anthony posted 11/19/2010 on Facebook

It's a good thing my little girl isn't sensitive yet. When Santa went to pick her up he said, "Man, she's stout!" Then she dazzled Santa even more by asking for a cactus for Christmas. I think I can afford that on a student budget, especially since Sam asked for a duck. Its nice to have kids that are easy to shop for.